One person pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth. –Proverbs 13:7

The rich rule over the poor; and the borrower is slave to the lender. –Proverbs 22:7

Banks, the grand embodiment and exponent of credit, are allowed to flood the country with its symbols, often stimulating speculation, interrupting the regular course of trade, and seducing merchants to their ruin. –William Mathews, Getting On in the World, p. 316